AS THE CAMERA panned along the Scottish team singing the always-emotional Flower of Scotland at Murrayfield last Saturday, up popped Ben Healy belting the anthem out.
It wasn’t the first time, but it still felt a little strange to see. Tipperary man Healy qualifies for Scotland through his grandmother. Scottish Rugby chased him for a few years, with Healy rebuffing an offer from Glasgow back in 2020.
Healy stayed with Munster then but it became clear in the years that followed that he wasn’t in Andy Farrell’s plans for Ireland. So when the Scots came calling again last season, this time with an offer from Edinburgh, ex-Ireland U20 international Healy made the decision to go and play international rugby.
Sport tends to be full of fascinating sub-plots and the fact that Scotland meet Ireland in the crucial final Pool B game at the World Cup on 7 October is just one of them. Healy has a fine chance of being involved.
Finn Russell is the main man for Scotland at number 10 but having made a cameo off the bench against Italy during this year’s Six Nations, Healy enjoyed an impressive first start for the Scots last weekend in their World Cup warm-up win over the Italians.
Healy’s ability with the boot is well-known in Irish rugby but this was a thorough demonstration of his quality for Scottish fans who are just getting to know him. He had seven kicks in play, showing variety in his repertoire.
Healy’s ambition was evident early in the game with this grubber kick from inside his own 22.
While the execution is off and the ball bounces into touch just ahead of wing Darcy Graham, the space behind the Italian frontline defence is clear.
Healy’s decision is understandable but he would have been frustrated to get a hint too much on his grubber.
The first example of his long kicking game was an excellent one, with Healy and Scotland again identifying space behind the Italians.
Italy have overthrown a lineout on the Scottish 22, meaning the Italian defence is not set up to cover the backfield. After an initial carry from hooker George Turner, out-half Healy launches his kick deep down the pitch.
We can see Scotland’s outside backs pointing and screaming for the kick downfield and it’s Graham who shows his pace to thunder towards the ball and nudge it ahead on the second bounce.
Italy wing Monty Ioane recovers to ground the ball for a goal-line drop-out, but Healy’s awareness and long kick created an opportunity.
The former Glenstal College student’s next touch with the boot was a try assist as he connected with Graham again.
The score comes off a close-range Scottish maul, which the Italians manage to stop without conceding penalty advantage. As we see below, debutant Stafford McDowall is at first receiver and sweeps a pass out the back of centre partner Chris Harris to Healy.
Often, cross-kicks and attacking kicks come when penalty advantage is playing but Healy doesn’t need it here.
His cue is how narrow the Italian defence has got, with fullback Lorenzo Pani biting in from the left edge towards opposite number Ollie Smith after the midfield inside him is completely condensed by Scotland’s basic play.
Graham has positioned himself close to the right touchline so the option is clear for Healy, who makes a good decision to kick.
In truth, it’s not Healy’s best kick and his body language just after nudging the ball does suggest some worry.
Healy is helped by the famously deep in-goal area in Murrayfield and the Italians’ narrowness, meaning that even with a curling trajectory and three bounces of the ball, Graham still has time to gather it and dot down.
One aspect of Healy’s kicking game that audibly delighted the Scottish crowd was his penchant for spiralling the ball. Spiral kicking is less common than end-over-end kicking these days, but properly-executed spirals are both beautiful and effective.
As Munster fans know, Healy often spirals the ball when kicking down the line on penalties, allowing him to eke off huge gains at times, as below.
This is a mammoth kick, uplifting and advantageous for Healy’s team as much as it’s dispiriting for the opposition.
The generally-agreed notion is that there’s a greater margin for error with spiral kicks given that it’s a more difficult technique than end-over-end punting, but funnily enough Healy missed touch when he opted for the latter.
It would have been easy to suggest that Healy’s error here was an example of the ‘risk’ of spiralling the ball, but he actually kicks this in the more common end-over-end style, striking the point of the ball.
It’s a frustrating missed chance at a five-metre lineout for Healy but he immediately bounces back in style.
Italy clear to touch, Scotland take a quick lineout, and Healy launches a garryowen that he regains himself.
Healy’s determined run through the Italian escorting effort leaves him in position to bat the ball back towards his team-mates, with prop Rory Sutherland collecting on the bounce.
Returning to the spiral kick, Healy delivered a stunning example in the second half.
His defensive role for Scotland involved covering the backfield and it’s from that position that he launched this wondrous 50:22 kick.
Italy’s poor backfield cover presents Healy with the opportunity.
As out-half Tommaso Allan [yellow below] kicks the ball, we can see that left wing Ioane [red] is still getting off the ground having just made the most recent carry for Italy.
Allan kicks and chases but now Ioane realises that no one else has moved to drop into that left-hand side of the backfield. He starts to work back downfield.
But it’s too late as Healy has had time to gather Allan’s poor kick and identify the opportunity.
Healy’s technical decision is perfect. He doesn’t go for maximum height on his spiral because he obviously doesn’t want to give Ioane time to recover, while the spiral also allows him to get great velocity on his kick.
We can see how aggressively the ball ricochets up off the ground thanks to the spinning trajectory. Of course, the bounce is essential in making this a 50:22 kick, giving Scotland the throw into the lineout.
Ioane’s dismay is evident as his hands go up to his head. Again, it’s a little sickening for the Italians and a big momentum lift for Scotland.
Healy also had two long infield exit kicks in this game, meaning he showed nearly the entire array of his kicking from hand.
As Munster fans are well aware, he is excellent at taking restarts and this high, hanging effort probably should have been regathered by left wing Kyle Steyn.
Healy is also confident at kicking with his left foot, even on restarts, but we didn’t see evidence of that in this game.
Off the tee, Healy slotted four of his five attempts at goal, with this touchline conversion of Josh Bayliss’ late try a fitting last act of the game.
Away from his kicking game, Healy was naturally centrally involved in the game.
Scotland never fully got into their most exciting flow in attack against Italy but Healy showed signs that he is getting to grips with their systems and plans, as well as making some good decisions on a more off-the-cuff basis.
He made 27 passes in total, shipping some heavy tackles from the Italians just after passing on several occasions.
Healy just has to catch and pass on the spot in this instance as the Italian defender shoots up on him, but Scotland boss Gregor Townsend will have been encouraged to see his out-half getting the ball away under pressure on a consistent basis.
Two phases later, Healy steps in at scrum-half to keep the tempo of the Scottish attack high.
Healy scoops the ball, draws an Italian defender and sends lock Sam Skinner surging into space.
In the instance below, Steyn has just made a linebreak off a clever Scotland lineout play. The obvious next option is to use the Scottish forwards back in midfield, but Healy decides to head into the shortside.
Healy calls to scrum-half Ali Price, who has to swivel late to find him, then catches and passes to give Turner time on the ball.
As with Munster and most other teams these days, a lot of Scotland’s phase-play attack revolves around pods of three forwards being used off scrum-half, with a back loaded in behind.
We see Healy set up in that slot in the example below.
Healy looked comfortable in that position during this game, with his unfussy work in this instance allowing Scotland to threaten wide on the right.
Despite the clear chance, Scotland fail to score here.
They were more clinical with the late Bayliss score when Healy was involved in the string of passes that allowed the replacement back row to finish superbly.
As we see above, Healy is again set up out the back of the pod of forwards, taking the ball from captain Rory Darge and moving it on to Kinghorn.
Below, Healy does some fine work on third phase of a Scotland lineout strike play.
His role is to swing back to the right at a late stage, accepting a pass out the back from replacement centre Cameron Redpath.
Healy nails his role, gathering Redpath’s slightly slightly-too-high pass, and fullback Smith should make the bust here off Healy’s pass but he knocks the ball on with space in front of him.
As well as being a key distributor, Healy carried the ball into contact himself three times against the Italians.
He has not been regarded as a major running threat in the past with Munster but variety is key for any out-half. A threat to the line is something that Russell certainly offers, having been encouraged by Townsend to run the ball himself at times, and Healy is well capable of carrying into contact.
At 6ft 3ins and just under 100kg, he’s not a small man by out-half standards and he looked confident taking the ball to the line himself last weekend.
His size helps when it comes to defending too, given that out-halves are usually a prime target for the opposition attack. Healy did slip off one attempt against the Italians but he was accurate with six other completed tackles and while he spent lots of time in the backfield, he certainly doesn’t need to be hidden defensively.
Healy even managed to help Scotland to a breakdown turnover at one stage in the second half, pouncing after Italian back row Toa Halafihi tripped himself up.
Really it’s a case of Halafihi discombobulating himself to give the ball back to Scotland, but Healy will surely be telling the Scottish back rows that this was an example of his jackal threat.
Healy certainly didn’t look flustered on his first start for Scotland.
There are much tougher tasks ahead of him, with Townsend’s men playing France twice and also meeting Georgia before the World Cup, but this performance puts Healy firmly in the Scottish plans.
